Long before he composed the music of arguably the most famous trilogy in the world, Howard Shore was helping shape the sound of New York’s late-night television. As Saturday Night Live’s original musical director from 1975 to 1980, he wrote its opening and closing music, an early chapter in a career that would eventually lead to Peter Jackson’s films. Now, a classical tribute in NYC will put the music of those films center stage.
After lighting up St. Ann & the Holy Trinity and America’s earliest movie-making capital, Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings is looking at the historic Church of the Heavenly Rest. The Fifth Avenue landmark is swapping its usual services for an intimate tribute amid a sea of candles on Friday, January 29.
29 January 2027 18:30
Church of the Heavenly Rest
Howard Shore’s themes, on two violins, a viola and a cello
Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings is a live music concert that celebrates Peter Jackson’s three films, played live by a local string quartet in a room lit by thousands of candles. Fever and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences co-present it to mark 25 years since The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters.
Approved by composer Howard Shore himself, this 13-piece setlist strips away the massive orchestras and roaring choirs of the original films, leaving the heavy lifting to a single string quartet. He famously built his cinematic score using leitmotifs—musical themes tied to specific characters and realms—and those iconic signatures take center stage here.
Over the course of the hour, the strings channel the Shire in “Concerning Hobbits” the charging cavalry in “The Riders of Rohan”, and the towering grandeur of Gondor in “Minas Tirith”.
The composer’s surprising connection to NYC
Howard Shore’s connection to New York began in 1975, when he moved to the city to become Saturday Night Live’s original musical director. Recruited by his longtime friend and collaborator Lorne Michaels, Shore helped shape the show’s sound, composing its opening and closing music, leading the band and occasionally appearing in sketches. He held the role until 1980, decades before creating the scores for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Church of the Heavenly Rest: Fifth Avenue’s unfinished Gothic church
Facing Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 90th Street, this 1929 neo-Gothic church hides a piece of Great Depression history in plain sight. The stock market crash left its exterior sculptures permanently uncarved, giving this National Register-listed landmark its strikingly bare limestone facade.